As a fellow crane-lover, I must comment. Excellent, as others have said, but specifically in the balancing. Balancing is so important for these large cranes, and working with ABS makes it all the more difficult. Although Technic bricks are quite strong, when we are looking at piece counts this huge the weight really adds up. Kudos to you for making this work all so well.

Thxs All!
I very much agree. I think we are seeing a slight evolution of Technic sets to be bigger and a little more sophisticated (debatable). However, the elements making up engines are still kinda prehistoric. Especially in what appears to be the dawn of the supercar era for Technic fans (42056, now 42083 and proposed others) I would really like to see added emphasis on the engine.
Funny. I used the exact picture when I researched scaled comparisons to give the build the distinction of being Technic-figure scaled.... We are on the same "Goolge-search" wavelength
Thnxs!

So back at it.... and here is version II that rectified the problems in the past.
- W16
- Accurate 1/2 cylinder offset
- Accurate cylinder offset direction
- Single crankshaft
- Technic figure scale
- Less friction than previous version (due to only one crankshaft
Ultimately I still think this would be too small for TLG's 42083 version coming out. But, I think it would be a perfect size for like a 1/10 or 1/12 version of the car.
More pics and information on my Mocpages and Flickr accounts (signature block)

I have always really enjoyed your tanks. And the amount of details that go into the digital renderings, the details, shots of innards and digital overlays are just incredible. As always, thanks for sharing.

Love this video for many reasons..... but for one I will just say that it is nice to hear someone mimic what I have thought for the longest time, although I have not been able to adhere to it. You mention that limiting yourself to build only technic allows you to keep your collection neat and organized because it very much limits the range of pieces used. I have had this thought a billion times over.... but can't seem to stick to it (as evidenced by one of my latest builds, which is nearly all system bricks.... i.e. the greebling project in my signature block). This is not a mistake.... it is something I have knowingly continued to engage in - but the downside is that I will likely never have a super-organized collection like this b/c it would require too much time and space. Building with multiple colors, and a greater variety of bricks is fun, but it certainly has it downsides. Kudos for being able to stick to your guns and remain so organized.

Yup, exactly. One side the series of thin liftarms are rotating away from the bank whereas the other is rotating towards. That which the crankshaft rotates towards has much more force (therefore rocking) than the other.

Actually, you are partly right. It really is not both inner banks.... if you look closely the right side (if looking at a frontal shot of the engine) is actually fairly sound while, you're correct, the left side vibrates a lot. And this is not due to being connected by only two 157.5 connectors, because the right side, as well as the outer banks, are also only connected by the same. Any idea why the left, outer bank vibrates so much? Guesses?
Yes, there are two cranks, so both of you are correct, it is mechanically incorrect. I guess there is a trade off here.... mechanically correct (one axle) or an offset in the cylinders.
I just saw your post. Looks like we both had similar ideas I guess now the question is if people want to have only one axle or the offset.
But..... I have a feeling that someone out there is working on a solution and we may have the best of both worlds soon

Hey Everyone,
So with the announcement of 42083 I have had W16 engines on my mind. Thought I would make a little rendition of my own. It is too small for 42083, but it is Technic Figure scale, based on newer proposals of mini-engines that have been around for a while. Complete with the four turbos (at least the appearance of them). I wish something like this could be in 42083, for based on the promo video I think any proposal with the current engine blocks will be too big, chunky and overall sloppy-looking.

I used the elastics from 8269 from years ago. They actually held up really well despite their age.
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=8269-1
It worked for me!
In this build the motors used were XL motors. @ <300 RPMs, trust me, nothing is going to get thrown off the axles. Especially when the weight of the elastic is negligible. Perhaps if I were running the axles at tens of thousands of RPMs you might have a point, but Lego at that speed poises a completely new problem
I think a used various because I didn't have enough for the front and rear. In the rear I used those from the set I posted above, but for the front I think I used one official Lego white band while, after running out, used a clear silicone (non-Lego) dental band.
I am surprised this worked. Again, the advantage I would think that bands would have over string would be demonstrated in the youtube video I posted. But hey, if this worked, then awesome!

So although this build:
had some major areas of improvement I did learn some things. One thing I learned is a little technique to help increase the strength of u-joints so that the above did not happen. The principle I used can best be demonstrated byj the Slo-Mo guys in this video:
Here elastics are wound many many times around the watermelon until it bursts. Well, U-joints are very weak around the connecting ends of the element because of the cut-outs in the plastic. But, if you wind an elastic around the ends many many times the force strengthens the joint. When I made the above truck the torque from the XL motors was splitting the U-joints all the time. With the below technique, I never split one. They would, on occasion separate in the middle, but (1) the frequency in which this occurred was minimal compared to before the technique and (2) they were only separated; not broken. I saved myself tons of U-joints by using this technique.

10 : 10
24 : 6
15 : 4
26 : 3
2 : 2
19 : 1
Btw... some very nice builds. But I feel that some of the videos showed the looks of their models nice, but almost no footage of them actually working. People vary on this, but function needs to be a huge, if not main focus of builds AND the videos.....

Great point. And really, i think there are countless others.
And for the record, I probably am too opinionated for this. But really, not sure the reason for all the complaining all the time for sets. Critiques of construction, color etc. is something different IMO and I complain about that stuff as well. But complaining too much, or because perhaps every single technicality is not matched on models, like something isn't motorized, ackerman steering, etc. IMO kinda misses the boat. Target population for MOCs produced by MOCers usually is a specific few, so making everything as realistic as possible is the goal b/c that is what is desired.
For official sets, that is NOT the goal. The goal is to reach as MANY as possible, which, includes those that are unaware or ignorant of the more technical aspects of models. But..... to get the foot in the door TLG uses visual appeal to get their product out. Perhaps not directly, but indirectly, this is a goal all AFOLs should want..... because it allows TLG to produce billions and billions of pieces; which makes our whole hobby possible. If TLG didn't appeal to general masses, they would not sell X amount of sets, which necessitates the billions and billions of pieces. Without the market where it is today, which makes a trillion-piece ocean to draw from.... I guarantee you that #3 red connector or what ever expensive piece you are lamenting you cannot afford to finish whatever MOC would be ALOT more expensive. I know people don't want to hear this but the fact the TLG targets the global market and produces something that perhaps does not meet the needs of the esoteric few is a GOOD thing, something that all AFOLs, even if they are not aware of it, wants.